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January 27, 2000

PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. CLINTON

STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS
(Excerpt)

The greatest environmental challenge of the new century is global warming.
The
scientists tell us the 1990s were the hottest decade of the entire
millennium. If we fail
to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, deadly heat waves and
droughts will
become more frequent, coastal areas will flood, and economies will
be disrupted.
That is going to happen, unless we act.

Many people in the United States -- some people in this chamber --
and lots of folks
around the world still believe you cannot cut greenhouse gas
emissions without
slowing economic growth. In the Industrial Age that may well have
been true. But in
this digital economy, it is not true anymore. New technologies make
it possible to cut
harmful emissions and provide even more growth.

For example, just last week, automakers unveiled cars that get 70 to
80 miles a
gallon -- the fruits of a unique research partnership between
government and industry.
And before you know it, efficient production of bio-fuels will give
us the equivalent of
hundreds of miles from a gallon of gasoline.

To speed innovation in these kind of technologies, I think we should
give a major tax
incentive to business for the production of clean energy, and to
families for buying
energy-saving homes and appliances and the next generation of
super-efficient cars
when they hit the showroom floor. I also ask the auto industry to
use the available
technologies to make all new cars more fuel-efficient right away.

And I ask this Congress to do something else. Please help us make
more of our clean
energy technology available to the developing world. That will
create cleaner growth
abroad and a lot more new jobs here in the United States of America.